JATQ News Roundup 1.26.23
JATQ News Roundup 1.26.23
Happy New Year! Nuclear Doomsday, Donald Trump and George Santos! Hurrah!
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Nuclear doomsday could be coming — if political doomsday doesn't get here first
Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved its Doomsday Clock forward to 90 seconds before midnight.
The clock has been maintained since 1947 and is used as a metaphor for the likelihood that we'll blow ourselves up. Originally set at seven minutes to midnight, the farthest it has been from midnight was 17 minutes — in 1991, right after the end of the Cold War. Some mistakenly believe the clock is a gauge to register international power struggles, but according to scientists, "It is intended to reflect basic changes in the level of continuous danger in which mankind lives in the nuclear age."
In 1953, the previous closest point to midnight before 2020, scientists pushed the time forward after the Soviet Union began testing hydrogen bombs. Today it's the war in Ukraine, climate change and COVID-19 that have all helped to push us closer to the brink. As Barry McGuire sangmany years ago, "You don't believe we're on the eve of destruction."
EP 160: Santos may face charges, Biden brings in new chief of staff and the NFL playoffs continue
This week on "Just Ask the Question," Former Dir. of the DOJ Money Laundering Unit, Michael Zeldin predicts that Rep. George Santos may face criminal charges for his activities around a "go fund me" account. The Biden classified document scandal gets murkier while the President brings in a new chief of staff. This, and the NFL playoffs this week on "Just Ask The Question".
Two years after Jan. 6, it still divides our politics — and the press isn't helping
Joe Biden's reality-based presidency now faces a Congress run by cosplay insurrectionists. It won't be fun
Last Friday in the East Room, President Biden honored "the heroes of Jan. 6" at an emotional White House ceremony.
He gave the Presidential Citizens Medal — the country's second-highest civilian honor — to 14 people, including police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol against attack and election workers who refused Donald Trump's pressure to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Three of the medals were awarded posthumously to the families of police officers who died in the days after the attack.
"History will remember your names, remember your courage and remember your bravery," Biden said.
The ceremony wasn't without its humorous moments. As Biden spoke, the cell phone of one honoree started playing the president's announcements on a live delay. "I never thought ... (long pause) ... I'd hear my own voice," he said to laughter before getting serious again. When he mispronounced a recipient's name and was corrected, he got another laugh by telling the recipient — Aquilino Gonell, a sergeant with the Capitol Police who was injured in the insurrection — that he could mispronounce the president's name…
Episode 159: Matt Gaetz vs McCarthy, will it lead to a government shutdown?
This week on JATQ: Will the Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy feud lead to a government shutdown? Will Damar Hamlin's injury change how the NFL plays football?
GOP in utter shambles, and Democrats are loving it: But it's a bad look for America
Actual bipartisanship was on display in Kentucky — not that anyone noticed amid the toddler tantrum on Capitol Hill
The U.S. House of Representatives — even to those in it — often seems like a circus.
As Kevin McCarthy's bid to become the next speaker of the House of Representatives failed for a fourth time Wednesday afternoon, President Biden and Sen. Mitch McConnell appeared together near a bridge over the Ohio River in northern Kentucky to speak about the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year.
Back on Capitol Hill, McCarthy would taste defeat two more times before the House adjourned until Thursday afternoon — after debating that for nearly a half an hour on Wednesday night.
Having fun yet in the New Year?
Happy Festivus! What were this years most underreported stories?
Happy Festivus for the rest of us. We conduct a year-end review of the stories of 2022 and look at the most underreported stories of the year.
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